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From the July 24, 1944 Edition of Stars and Stripes

Information reaching Stockholm yesterday indicated that “Hangman” Heinrich Himmler and his Gestapo were embarked on a “purge” in Germany far bloodier than the “night of the long knives” of June 30, 1934, to wipe out ruthlessly the opposition elements whose activities came to a head in the alleged attempt to assassinate Hitler.

To Nazi leaders look over the devastation of the Wolf’s Lair after the assassination attempt.

Unconfirmed reports were that up to 1,000 army officers had been executed. Jack Fleischer, Stockholm correspondent of the United Press, reported that Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, former Reichsbank president, “has been either arrested or killed it is impossible to be sure which”– and that Baron Constantin von Neurath, former foreign minister, had been arrested and his Wurttemberg castle seized by the Gestapo.

Meanwhile, Louis Hunter, Canadian Press correspondent on the Orne front in Normandy, said last night that five German soldiers had crossed over to the Canadian lines and surrendered, relating that “their officers had deserted after telling them there was a revolution in Germany.”

Tight censorship still covered details of Germany’s internal strife, making it impossible to determine whether Hitler’s claim that the anti-Nazi revolt had been crushed were substantially true.

Except for one rumor that violent anti-Hitler demonstrations had been staged in the bomb-battered Munich, there were no reports, however, of clashes between Himmler’s SS units and civilian or military bands, and it appeared that all active opposition to the Reich government had been driven underground, if it had not been smashed completely, as Nazi leaders repeatedly stressed.

In Stockholm as in London, some observers expressed the opinion that the alleged attempt to assassinate Hitler had been arranged by the Nazis themselves as a pretext for acquiring control over the army and disposing of dissident elements.

But everyone agreed, regardless of whether the plot was spontaneous of not, that there existed in the army a deep-rooted hatred of the Nazi government which constituted a menace to the regime.

Although Hitler was in possession of a message of loyalty from Kluge, army commander in France, late yesterday there were still no reports that any had been received from Rundstedt, Brauchitsch, Mannstein, Kleist or Keitel.

Even if there were truth in the Moscow claim, which quoted Radio Atlantic, that a new German imperial government had been formed, it seems apparent that the Nazis were in control of all large cities and the nation’s administrative machinery.

Germany radio, meanwhile, said that 37-year-old Count Klaus von Stauffenberg carried out the attempt on Hitler’s life singlehandedly, acting as the medium of a small clique. He and his brother, Count Berthold von Stauffenberg, were reported killed.

I doubt the July, 1944 Stars & Stripes staff had the full and correct details of the attempted coups against Hitler, although some of the details are correct, such as the execution of Count von Stauffenberg, leader of the coup. My book, “Double Eagles” covers the situation accurately except where some fictional elements were added to make the story.